Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-11-05
DESTROYING A RAILROAD.

The Effcctual and Expeditions Method
Carried Out by Shernan's Army.
A knowledge of the art of building
railroads is certainly of more value to q
country than that of the best means of
destroying them but at this particular
time the destruction seemed necessary,
and the time may again come when such
work will be necessary. Lest the most
effectual and expeditions method of de-
stroying railroad tracks should become
one of the lost arts, will here give few
rules for the guidance of officers who may
in future be charged with this important
duty. 1t should be remembered that
these rules are the result of long expert
ence and close observation. A detail Of
men to do the work should be made on
the evening before operations are to COM
mence. The number to be detailed being,
of course, dependent upon the amount of
work to be done, I estimate that 1000
men can easily destroy about FIVE miles of
track per day, and do it thoroughly.
Before going out in the morning the
men should be supplied with good break
fast, for it has been discovered that soldiers
are more efficient at this work, as well as
on the battlefield, when their stomachs are
full than when they are empty. The ques-
ton as to the food to be given the men for
breakfast is not important, but suggest
roast turkeys, chickens, fresh eggs and
coffee, for the reason that in an enemy's
country such o breakfast will cause no
unpleasantness between the commissary
and the soldier, inasmuch as the commits.
sary will only be required to provide the
coffee. In fact it has been discovered that
an army moving through a hostile bat
fertile country, having an efficient corps Ct
foragers (vulgarly known in our army IS
bummers), requires but few articles Of
food, such as hardtack, coffee, salt, pepper
and sugar. N -
Your detail should be divided into three
sections of about equal numbers. / will
suppose the detail to consist of 8, 900 men.
The first thing to be done is to reverse the
relative positions of the ties and iron rails,
placing the ties up and the rails under
them. To do this, Section No. /, consist
ing of 200 men, is distributed along one
side of the track, one man at the end of
each tie. At a given signal each man
SEXES tie, lifts it gently till it assumes
vertical position, and then at another sig
nal pushes it forward so that when it
falls the ties will be over the rails. Then
each man loosens his tie from the rail
This done, Section No. moves forward to
another portion of the road, and Section
No. 3 advances and is distributed along
the portion of the road recently occupied
by Section No. /. The duty of the second
section IS to collect the ties, place them
in piles of about thirty ties each-place
the rails on top of these piles, the center
of e&ch rail being over the center of the
pil., and then set fire to the ties. Section
NJ. then follows No. 1.
AS soon as the rails are sufficiently
heated, Section No. 3 takes the place of
No. Q, and upon this devolves the most
important duty, viz, the effectual de-
be in command of an efficient officer, who
will see that the work is not sighted
Unless closely watched, soldiers will con-
'ent themselves with bending the rails
around trees. This should never be per-
mitted. A rail which is simply bent can
easily be restored to its original shape
SO rail should be regarded as properly
treated till it has assumed the shape of a
doughnut; it must not only be bent, but
twisted. To do the twisting Poe's rail-
road hooks are necessary, for it has been
found that the soldiers will not seize the
hot iron bare han<ed. This, however, is
the only thing looking toward the de-
struction of property which l ever knew o
man in Sherman's army to decline doing.
With Poe's hooks q double twist can be
given to rail which precludes all hope of
restoring it to its former shape except by
recasting-Gen. III. W. Slocum in The
Century.